So when I went to college, I didn't want to go to college.. got the kick in the ass by my parents... graduated and couldn't get a FT job.. owed tons of money for school and said fk it went to grad school for a year.. got an Acc MBA in business management in 11 months..

Bounced around a little got a great job in finance/business world where I have been for almost 2 years now... problem is

I HATE MY JOB...

I really want to do something with cars which is what I wanted to do when I was in pre-school, elementary school middle school, high school, etc;

I am young and don't have a family to support and I am thinking about opening a business and taking a risk...

I know its a risk thats the problem ...

I am debating opening up a towing company... I have connections in the car industry and a friend that has a towing business...

it has relatively low overhead from my understanding because all you need is a truck, business license, and insurance. I would end up renting space in a yard from someone I know and running the paperwork/business end out of my home.

I would do police towing which is a rotating schedule on a per call basis for some towns and per day basis for other towns...

If any of you took a risk and made it out alive and are now successful please fill me in on how you did it...

I want to be my own boss and be successful , definitely dont want to be a failure...

problem is most people deep down around you want you to fail... well I would like to prove them wrong

my original thought was to open a shop but I see them fail left and right.. my best friend has a successful one and I would never want to take away from his business at all... plus there is much overhead...

Hmm. My dad is in hotel/motel business. Def has a chill life. I have a chill life too but still have a boss! Job is not that boring. Corporate taxes. It seems we might be the same age. I couldn't risk opening a business now. Just work and party is all I do right now with no risks. I say just enjoy the young life now and leave the tension life for mid 30's.

I know a guy here about my age who has a window tinting business that is pretty successful and now he has gotten into the "laser wash" business by opening a 2 stall wash with vacuums and stuff. seems to be doing well.

the way I see it is there is relatively low overhead because you generally work out storage for the cars on a per car basis... and the way its set up out here people tend to share lots on a car per basis.

so your overhead is a used tow truck.. which from first hand experience can be had under 20k , and labor which is yourself... and insurance

My story. Been in IT/Infrastructure for over 15 years moving from one specialty to the next from data center implementation to disaster recovery & business continuity to IT compliance. Pay was great and the experience and knowledge was overwhelming but at the end of the day, I was still working for someone else. The freedom and independence was definitely lacking.

So by chance an opportunity pop up where someone I knew had a family business that needed a patrol guard and an off-duty police officer/friend needed some extra cash. I put the two together and from what started with one guard grew to a few then over the course of 4 years, it grew to over 200 guards employed.

I, just last September threw in the towel and walked away from my IT life to now really drive my security guard business. It hasn't been easy but definitely 100 times more rewarding and the extra time I get to be with my new family is a huge win over.

I can't say that I don't miss the IT life but when I see my lil baby girl, I know the extra time I have with her IS because of my business.

You just have to try. No matter the outcome, the experience itself will go a long way.

Do you plan on being the tow truck driver or do you plan on hiring someone?

How much research have you done?
What does a tow truck driver get paid?
How much can you reasonably expect to make per quarter?
How long can you afford to take losses until your business starts to pay?
How long do you have to store a car in your state before you can file a lien on it and take possession and auction it off?

There are many more questions to be considered.

If someone was to ask me, I would say plan on keeping your job and hiring a part time driver to get started. With the education that you say you have, your time is worth more then a tow-truck drivers time, you should not be in the truck (I really need to take my own advice sometimes)

i was at the same crossroads 10 yrs ago. was making good money in it/software, hated my career. nobody thought it was a good idea. to quote my college roommate: "just sounds like you're starting over"

i began selling stuff on ebay, then tried my hand in import/export. a tour of b-school (dropped out), failed dot-com startup, day trading, private research... and finally lifted off with freelance writing.

that same roommate: still at the same job (probably with a raise/promotion or two).

Do you plan on being the tow truck driver or do you plan on hiring someone?

How much research have you done?
What does a tow truck driver get paid?
How much can you reasonably expect to make per quarter?
How long can you afford to take losses until your business starts to pay?
How long do you have to store a car in your state before you can file a lien on it and take possession and auction it off?

There are many more questions to be considered.

If someone was to ask me, I would say plan on keeping your job and hiring a part time driver to get started. With the education that you say you have, your time is worth more then a tow-truck drivers time, you should not be in the truck (I really need to take my own advice sometimes)

I wanna be out there first hand... having an employee is too much of a risk.. i see first hand how dumb employees screw up peoples businesses.

i was at the same crossroads 10 yrs ago. was making good money in it/software, hated my career. nobody thought it was a good idea. to quote my college roommate: "just sounds like you're starting over"

i began selling stuff on ebay, then tried my hand in import/export. a tour of b-school (dropped out), failed dot-com startup, day trading, private research... and finally lifted off with freelance writing.

that same roommate: still at the same job (probably with a raise/promotion or two).

"no guts no glory" --my h.s. calculus teacher

In what context did you calculus teacher say this? was it unrelated to calculus? just curious... if it was in the context of calculus, what it could have been...